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C. S. DAY. Hominy Mill.

No. 232,693. Patented Sept. 28,1880.

UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

`CHARLES S. DAY, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

HoMlNY-MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 232,693, dated September 28, 1880.

Application tiled January 13, 1880.

To all whom it may concern ,f

Beit known that I, CHARLES S. DAY, ofthe city of Baltimore and the Stateot' Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Hominy-Mills, of which the followingis a specification 5 and' I do hereby declare that in the same is contained a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference heilig had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to improvements` in hominy-mills; and it consists in certain details 0f construction hereinafter more fully set forth.

In the furt her description ot'in y said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical section of my improved hominy-mill. Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional plans of the mill on the dotted lines o w and x y, respectively. Fig. 4t is a detached sectional view of one of the plates separati-ng the cages,which plates are all constructed alike.

Similar letters ot reference indicate similar parus in all the views, and arrows designate the direction ot' air-currents.

A A are the cages, which are here shown as four in number, in which the grinding or breaking process which reduces the corn to hominy is accomplished. The said cages are situated one upon the other, and the uppermost one is closed at the top with a plate, and has a hopper, a,-into which the corn to be reduced to hominy is fed. Each cage consists of an upper and a lower ring, respectively represented by b and c, connected by removable staves or bars d, and the several parts of the cage are held together by means of bolts e. The staves or bars el are ofa trian gular cross-section, and they are arranged to stand slightly apart to allow of the escape ot a portion of what is termed the chop in the revolutionof the bea-ters, hereinafter more particularly described. The cages are separated by plates B, having central openings, j, for the passage of the corn from one cage to the one next below it, and each opening f is surrounded by a flange, g, for purposes hereinafter described. n

a a (see Fig. l) represent flanges near the outer edges ot' the plates B, which project, one upwardly and the other downwardly, from the top and bottom faces of the plate B, and serve 1 to guide the rings ot' the cages into position one upon the other and retain them in place.

It will he perceived that each cage can be separately detached, and that cach plate can also readily he detached and their places supplied by other cages and plates.

in turn, rests upon the upper head oft-he sweepchamber C. lhe lower head ot' the sweepchamber divides that comlmrtment from the fan-chamber D, which has a lower head resting upon a ring, E, supported by legs. The whole structure is secured together by means ot' bolts, substantially as shown.

F s the driving-shaft, extending from a stop, It, on the adjustable lever or baril to a bearing at the upper part ot' the hopper a. Gr Gr are the beaters, consisting ot' hars rou ghened after the manner ot' a rasp, projecting from the driving-shat't F, and they are arranged 011e above the other in such manner as to form a skeleton spiral.

All the cages are furnished alike with a series of beaters, which, in the operation of the mill, revolve with the driving-shaft at a high rate of speed. Motion is communicated to the shaft F by means of the drivin g-pulley H. The part oi' the shaft F incloscd within the sweepchamber C is iitted with a sweep, lc, and that part of the said shaft passing through the fanehamber with a fan, Z, which, with the sweep, are of the ordinary description.

Parts of the invention not yet alluded to will be fully described and their uses set forth in the description of the operationA ot' reducing corn to hominy by means of my improved mill, which follows: rlhe driving-shaft being put in revolution, the corn is fed through the hopper a to the upper cage, and in passing to the next cage below is partially reduced to hominy by contact with the rapidly-revolving beaters.

process is only partially accomplished; but when all the cages become filled or fully charged the process is carried on with regularity. A

The lowest cage rests upon a plate, B, which,

At the beginning of the operation the reducing beaters with reference to the said plates is effected by means of the adjustable lever fi.

It will be understood that the flanges g prevent the beaters being lowered to too near the surface of thc plates, and consequently the grinding' ofthe hominy to meal. y

As the hominy and a large quantity of small particles of corn and refuse matter pass from the lowest cage to the sweep-chamber C they are caught by the sweep k and forced through a port, m, in the side ofthe said chamber to an extension, I, ofthe fanch amber, through which a blast of air from the tan passes. In the passage of the hominy through the extension of the fan-chambers the small particles ol' corn and refuse matter are driven by the air-blast through the upper aperture, the homin y falling in acleansed condition through the lower opening, o., in the said extension.

In placing the bea-ters spirally ou the drivingshaft au enforced feed is accomplished, and the progress of the corn through the cages is therefore very rapid, and the production of the mill greatly increased, and the formation ofthe cylindrical portionoli' the cages of' removable bars allows broken bars or staves being replaced with new ones, which cannot be accomplished when the cages are east in one piece.

It is well known that the cages of mills of this description are constantly being broken in consequence of the internal pressure of the corn during the hominy-making process, and the replacing of a broken cage with an entire new one is a source of great expense.

The construction of the mill as described, which allows of the air being taken from below instead of through a hollow driving-shaft, admits ofthe driving-shaft being made ot'mueh 'smaller diameter, thus at the same timeincreasing the size of the cages and the length of the beaters without adding to the exterior diameter of the mill.

I claim as my invention- In a hominy-mill, a series of cages, each consisting oi' an upper and lower ring, b c, with detach able staves between them, and connected together by bolts e, each forming a separate detachable cage, in combination with the detachable plates B, each provided with a central opening, a peripheral flange, f and guideianges 'n n, projecting, one upwardly and the other downwardly, from the opposite faces ot' the plate and fitting into the circular openings' of two adjacent rings, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

C. S. DAY. Witnesses:

HARRY V. ALBAUGH, l JN0. T. MADDoX. 

